With struggling youngsters, Red Sox juggling development and performance

Wednesday

Jul 2, 2014 at 4:59 PM

BOSTON — This isn’t how it was supposed to go.

By Tim Britton

BOSTON — This isn’t how it was supposed to go.

After winning the World Series last season, the Red Sox were the envy of baseball — not just because of that title, but because of how Boston achieved it. The Sox had spent wisely in free agency, not committing to any long-term deals. They had protected their youth. They were going to let Jacoby Ellsbury and Stephen Drew sign their expensive contracts elsewhere, because they could replace them with Jackie Bradley, Jr. and Xander Bogaerts cheaply.

That plan has obviously fallen flat, due in part to the struggles of Bradley and Bogaerts. More than halfway through the season, Bradley is hitting just a tick above .200, and Bogaerts has found himself ensconced in an unfathomable 9-for-87 slump over the past month.

So what do you do as an organization when the players you believe in struggle in their big-league transition like this?

“As it relates to our overall team performance, you look at guys internally through the month of June and certainly in the first part of July,” manager John Farrell said. “And then as other options become available that might be external, then it’s how are you looking to improve the team? The internal options are going to be looked at first, and then what other players might become available is secondary. We’re approaching the second part of that.”

A young player’s development can be — almost certainly will be — fickle, and it’s impossible to set your expectations to a reliable timetable. Will Middlebrooks was supposed to spend 2012 in Triple-A, transition to the majors in 2013 and be a set regular by this season. Instead, he was one of Boston’s best players in 2012 and has struggled with injuries and underperformance since.

Bogaerts was a spark last postseason before encountering the deep slump this summer.

“Sometimes the downturns are a little bit longer than you might otherwise expect,” said Farrell.

The Red Sox decided, for instance, that 200 plate appearances was enough to come to a conclusion about Grady Sizemore’s fit on the roster, and they designated him for assignment. It’s tougher to set a number of plate appearances for someone like Bradley on whether he should be sent down to Pawtucket to work things out.

“You don’t say, ‘By x number of games, he’s going to be an established big-leaguer.’ That’s pretty difficult to project,” Farrell said. “I look at it as, how’s the young player’s mental strength going to allow him to endure the challenges that he’ll face? That’s what will continue to give you confidence to give them opportunities, and you feel like they’re going to handle some of the downturns and some of the focus and the attention that struggles generate.”

That’s where the Red Sox are right now with Bogaerts. Asked if Boston had considered sending the rookie back down to Pawtucket, the way it did with Middlebrooks last season and Daniel Nava in April, Farrell said it had not even been considered.

“There are going to be times where we give young players a breather. That has taken place with Xander and has taken place with Jackie,” said Farrell. “But when you’re getting to the point where you’re not getting five days a week on the field, then you start to consider the alternative. We’re not at that point yet.”

To that end, the Red Sox remain confident that Bogaerts can figure it out while playing at the major-league level. Tuesday night was a mixed bag for him. Bogaerts’ slump is so deep the Cubs intentionally walked A.J. Pierzynski to face him. But the rookie did respond to it with a sharp line drive to center that required a terrific over-the-head catch by Justin Ruggiano.

“What we monitor is, does [the slump] become a distraction inside the lines? And right now, it’s not,” Farrell said. “He is working on some things, particularly with his balance, trying to keep his legs underneath him rather than lunging to the front side. Those are things we’re hopeful will start to show up in games.”

The struggles of Bradley and Bogaerts serve as a reminder that even this course, the one approved of by so many, isn’t without its pratfalls. The reason an organization stockpiles so many prospects is because of the relatively high and unpredictable rate of failure. And that’s something to keep in mind over the next month as the Red Sox go about trying to contend in 2014 and/or build another winner for 2015.